Archive for March, 2010

The South Carolina Agricultural Council is holding its Spring Agricultural Tour on Wednesday, April 21, 2010.

The daylong tour of Saluda County will include visits to Watsonia Farms (vegetables and peaches), Amick Farms (poultry feed mill and storage), The Nut House (pecans), Yon Family Farms (Angus cattle), and Hickory Hill Farm (dairy with on farm processing). Lunch will be provided at Juniper Restaurant in Ridge Spring.

Participant check-in will be at 8:00 a.m. at the South Carolina Farm Bureau, 724 Knox Abbott Drive, Cayce, S.C. The bus will depart at 8:30 a.m. and return to the Farm Bureau building by 5:00 p.m. Parking for the tour participants will be behind the Farm Bureau Building in the parking lot across the street.

Due to bus seating, the tour will be limited to 47 people, so PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. The deadline to register is Friday, April 16, 2010. The tour is open to the public until the bus seating is filled, with priority given to Council members and their guests.

Cost of the tour is $30 for members of the S.C. Agricultural Council and $40 for non-members which includes lunch, beverages, and snacks.

To reserve a space on the tour, send your name, phone number along with a check made payable to the South Carolina Agriculture Council and mail to: South Carolina Agriculture Council, P.O. Box 2683, Columbia, S.C. 29202.

For more information about the Ag Council tour, contact Roy Copelan at 803-734-9806 or scbeef@scda.sc.gov or Steve Slice, at 803-806-3843 or Steve.Slice@sc.usda.gov.

National Ag Day is celebrated on March 20, 2010 – the first day of spring. National Ag Day falls during National Ag Week, March 14-20, 2010.

Ag Day is the day set aside to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. Every year, producers, agricultural associations, corporations, universities, government agencies and countless other across America join together to recognize the contributions of agriculture.

The Agriculture Council of America hosts the campaign on a national level. However, the awareness efforts in communities across America are as influential – if not more – than the broad-scale effort

Ag Day is about recognizing – and celebrating – the contribution of agriculture in our everyday lives. The National Ag Day program encourages every American to:

Understand how food and fiber products are produced.

Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.

Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.

Agriculture provides almost everything we eat, use and wear on a daily basis. But too few people truly understand this contribution. This is particularly the case in our schools, where students may only be exposed to agriculture if they enroll in related vocational training.

By building awareness, the Agriculture Council of America is encouraging young people to consider career opportunities in agriculture.

Each American farmer feeds more than 144 people … a dramatic increase from 25 people in the 1960s. Quite simply, American agriculture is doing more – and doing it better. As the world population soars, there is an even greater demand for the food and fiber produced in the United States.

For more information about National Ag Day, contact the Agriculture Council of America at (913) 491-1895 or visit http://www.agday.org/.